Learning to Breathe
by Shibby-One
Summary: Yugi and his friends have drifted apart over the years... Moved away, seperated... Just dissolved. Until Malik lands in the ER, and brings them together one more time.... [one-shot]


Yami: well, this is new. an angst/tragedy written by yours truly, Shibby-One.

Shibby: Shaddup. I was in a crushed type of mood when I started this. So... yeah.

_~Yugi and his friends have drifted apart over the years... Moved away, gotten jobs, just lost interest in each other. Until an accident lands Malik in the ER. They gather for what seems to be Malik's last day among the living, and hopefully, realize how much they're friendship truly meant to each other... [one=shot]~_

This is one-shot, so dont go asking for an update.

Yami: She's had it pretty rough lately. Don't mind her attitude. She doesn't mean it, really, guys.

Shibby: ... I don't wanna talk about it...

Yami: Fine with me.

Yugi: BTW, the italics are someone's thoughts as she waits for Malik's hospital report.

**~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~**

No one could have seen it coming. He was a skilled driver, applying the correct pressure to the handles, making sure to go the legal speed, never risking a chance without a helmet or a leather jacket to protect his body. He stopped at lights and crosswalks, almost never challenged drivers just because he was on a bike and not in a car.

He just went without his jacket one night.

A few minutes before putting his helmet on.

It was a warm spring night, very warm for the thick, dark leather that made up his jacket.

_He didn't always have a jacket; his friends got together and bought him one a few years ago._

He said he was going for a ride to blow off steam from a huge fight he got into with his best friend that day. He hadn't said a word about the others; he and them -- all of them -- had been drifting apart over the years. She knew he was hurting from this as well.

_They're so up-tight. In truth, this is their fault._

He said he was just going around the block a few times. No one was out this late. And he would go slowly, he promised.

_He always subconsciously speeds up on that death-trap._

He didn't know he was speeding up. He did it so gradually it seemed to him the same speed. He had only gone around once, and was coming to a large curve to zip around again. It was dark, he was angry and tired, his helmet was attached to the side of the bike. 

He let his angry, overflowing emotions spin around him and flatten his concentration, vital for a driver.

_I still can't believe he did something so dumb._

He miscalculated the turn. He turned too sharply -- the bike's front tire turned ninety-degrees to the right on a right turn, stopping the bike short. There was loud crunching sounds as the bike flipped over -- it was going so fast that even a stop would make it jump...

Two seconds -- the bike was totaled, flipped about twice, the engine sparking and leaking. Malik couldn't be seen from the road; even more deadly then if he could be seen.

A car came roaring by and saw the wreckage. The driver slowed and paused to see if they could see someone. Anyone who had been riding.

He didn't see anything.

He would have driven away.

Had it not been for his arm, lying in plain view, palm-up, blood strewn from where he broke his wrist.

_I still can't believe he would do something like this._

Ambulances were on the scene in a second; they lifted the bike out of the way to see the totaled driver, trapped half beneath the giant metal mass, completely lifeless, mostly covered in dark, secretive blood.

Blood. A simple organism, a single cell, that makes up billions of gallons of it inside your very body. Something so small and insignificant, that it can kill you, save you, change your life forever.

And he was covered in it.

_Why would he let himself lose sight of his goals? Is he that foolish?_

In a few minutes, they had him on a stretcher, in the back of the ambulance, cervical collars placed around his neck. Two EMTs pushed the stretcher in and locked it, so it wouldn't roll back out. Police cars surrounded the area. Sirens pulsated through the night, passer byers slowing to watch. 

"How much oxygen?"

"Fifteen liters should be enough."

An air mask was placed over his mouth and nose.

An IV tube was started in his arm. He had lost so much blood... Water was poured over his body. The IV was turned on. Fresh medicine and blood zoomed into his veins, hopefully replacing enough lost for the moment...

_He's lucky he didn't land on his face._

After necessary precautions, the ambulance arrived at the hospital. They had nearly no time. They _had_ to get him into an ER as fast as possible -- or he wouldn't make it. 

_He was still unconscious when they brought him in..._

He couldn't give any information on himself. He remained motionless, his chest heaving up and down, rising and falling, his eyes closed. The nurse at the ER out door glanced down at him briefly, wondering why she saw so many of these types...

"Motorcycle?" she asked an oncoming EMT, pushing his oxygen supply. He nodded sadly.

"Yes."

_They called me... Because of his license._

"We found this in his pant pocket," an EMT said, handing his driver's license to an Admitting Nurse. "Could you looked up his records for us...?"

"Sure..." the nurse said, walking back to her desk. She typed in his name, and pressed enter. A couple matches came up, but she only made one contact.

_I can still remember getting the call..._

"Miss Ishtahl?" the nurse said on the other line. "This is the Nikoyaka Hospital."

My heart stopped. He still hadn't returned from his ride...

"Your brother, Malik, is in the ER here. He was injured by a motorbike accident. We suggest you come quickly."

_I came._

**~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~**

By the way she was sitting in the Waiting Area, it looked as if Isis were in a coma herself. She was sitting in one of the chairs, one leg underneath the other, her hands folded, staring down at them. She was lost in her thoughts, subconsciously pushing a lock of hair back behind her ear. It fell again, however, falling over her shoulder and hanging loosely in the open.

Every few minutes she would lift her head, scope out the room, then return to the depths of her thoughts. Sitting in various seats around her were her brother's friends.

It was strange, seeing them all here, together, for the first time in... What was it?

Three years?

Yes, three years. 

Oh, God.

Isis looked up momentarily. No one spoke. It was a heavy silence that filled the space between them. She could sense many unanswered questions longing to be spoken by people around the circle of seats they had filled.

A group that was one known as Yugi-tachi; a group divided by fate, as she figured. 

Speaking of Yugi...

Isis glanced at him, watching his face. The nineteen-year-old was sitting a few seats down from her, his legs crossed in the seat. He had grown, although was still small compared to his, well... Former friends. He had his face in his hands, staring at the double doors that led to the many ERs and ICUs. He came all the way from Tokyo to see Malik.

Malik was still in the ER.

Her eyes drifted to Jonouchi, sitting just across from her. He was also staring at the door, with a stern face to hide his terror. He looked as if he were trying to burn a hole into the metal doors. He came from downtown Domino to the uptown; she hadn't seen him in at least a year...

What had happened to him?

Anzu wasn't present yet; she was in Takajuri, a good hour and a half away from Domino.

Neither Honda nor Shizuka were there, either. She hadn't been able to figure out how to contact them. What had happened to them as well? She remembered when she last saw them, almost a good two years ago....

Then they disappeared. And Jonouchi was suddenly pretending he didn't know who either of them were.

Otogi was sitting with his feet planted squarely on the floor, staring ahead, his hands squeezing the edge of the chair. He was muttering incoherently to himself about something or other. 

Ryou was there, drumming his fingers on his leg, staring down at the floor. He was the one who had fought with Malik.... Ryou lived in Tokyo as well, even though he and Yugi hadn't spoken in at least a year. They went to different schools.

Isis didn't understand it.

_What happened to this group?_ she thought sullenly. _Why did they suddenly fall apart like this?_

The silence was heavy. All they could hear was the soft ticking of a clock, ticking away the minutes.

_Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock._

**~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~**

A few minutes later, a doctor came into the waiting area.

"Ishtahl?" he called out. Isis looked up.

"Yes?" she asked eagerly, standing up. She rushed over to the doctor. Yugi, Jonouchi, Ryou and Otogi all looked up, standing and following her to the doctor.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Jonouchi wondered.

"What happened?" Yugi asked.

"It was the bike, wasn't it?" Ryou asked, simultaneous to the first two.

"That bastard..." Otogi muttered. The four comments had been at the exact same moment. The doctor blinked, then smiled.

"Well... Yes, your friend _was_ in a bike accident... And..." Isis stared up at him with pleading eyes. 

"...Please...?" she whispered. The doctor couldn't help but sigh.

"I came to tell you he is still in critical condition. We don't know if he's going to live." Isis nodded solemnly, bowing her head. She retreated, in a defeated fashion, to her seat, sighing and pulling her knees to her chest. The others slowly went back to their seats as well, silence settling once more.

However, this time around, Isis wasn't the only one wishing for a more cheerful atmosphere.

"I wonder what happened..." Yugi muttered to himself, however loud enough for everyone to hear. Isis looked up, a small smile playing on her lips. Yugi smiled a bit himself. "I bet he took a turn too hard. He always did that..."

"Yeah, even after we told him not to," Otogi muttered, smiling to himself. "He would always say--"

" 'I'm not doing anything dangerous'," Ryou finished for Otogi. The three laughed, then silence set in again. Jonouchi was playing with his hands. Yugi was surprised his futile attempts at conversation had worked.

"Bastard, always thinking he could do something we couldn't," Yugi muttered, smiling a bit. "Always thinking he was invincible."

"Hopefully, after this, he won't think of himself so highly..." Ryou commented. Isis wanted to tell them the details that she knew; he left without his jacket (the one they bought him), he didn't have his helmet when he first took off... She knew these were factors in his injury.

She couldn't. She felt as if her lips were sealed together by the pain and the confusion her mind was furrowing through. She gripped the seat and closed her eyes, trying desperately to organize her thoughts. She didn't even realize that they had a new arrival.

The door opened, and cool, spring air pushed in. Someone stepped into the lobby, wearing jeans and a t-shirt advertising the Takajuri Dance Academy. 

Anzu.

She had a bag slung over her shoulder, sweat beeding down her face. Her hair was pulled back, but she pulled it down after she entered. The Waiting Area was air conditioned. She scanned the room momentarily, trying to find Isis....

She saw her sitting in a chair... And saw the others sitting there, spaced apart.

Silent.

_Figures,_ Anzu thought to herself. She closed her eyes and let a few brief memories of the day she moved fly by. She still couldn't believe that the next time she visited, Jonouchi, Honda and Shizuka would all be gone. Things were so different; so different, in fact, she hadn't visited again.

This was her first time in Domino for two years.

Stepping forwards, she reached where Isis was sitting.

"Isis-san," she said, smiling at her. Isis looked up, smiled, then nodded to a seat. Isis then looked back down at her hands, and buried her face into her knees.

_This must be so hard on her,_ Anzu thought. She dropped into a chair a few down from Isis, so now the small group were equal distances away from each other.

Not sure if they had gotten a report, Anzu stayed silent. Instead, she fiddled with her necklace, pulling absently on the gold chain, the fourteen-karat-gold cross falling between her fingers. [1] She held the cross and stared down at it, readjusting it beneath her shirt.

Silence once again.

"...He was in a motorcycle accident..." Ryou quipped, looking up. Anzu turned to him.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Have you gotten a report?"

"He isn't doing that good..." Yugi said solemnly. At that note, Isis flinched as if someone took a blow to her head.

"How bad _is_ it?" Anzu asked slowly. No one spoke.

_That bad,_ Anzu thought, lowering her head. Jonouchi still hadn't said anything.

"...He could die..." Isis whispered to herself, loud enough for the others to hear. She closed her eyes and pulled herself tighter into a ball.

_This is so weird,_ Yugi thought. _I've never seen her like this before._

"...He can't die..." Jonouchi muttered, startling them all. He lifted his head, tears streaming down his face. They all looked up at him, except Isis. Apparently, the full extent of the situation had just fallen onto her.

And it hit everyone else.

"Holy shit...." Otogi said. "He really could die..."

"...I don't want to lose anymore people that I care about," Jonouchi said, a bit louder. He shook his head, anger rising. "That bastard..."

"Malik!" He cried, standing up. The others turned to him in surprise. He stood there, his tears falling down his face and hitting the floor, his fists shaking. "M-Malik Ishtahl, if you die.... I..." he was still shaking as he fell to his knees. 

The sudden outburst definitely startled the group into speech.

"Jonouchi--"

"What are you--"

"Are you okay?--"

"Jou--"

Jonouchi looked up at them all, breathing hard.

"I-I'm sorry," he muttered. "I didn't mean... That was... I...."

"We understand, Jonouchi," Yugi said softly. Otogi sat back.

For some reason, the tension between them suddenly eased a great deal. Maybe it was the way Jonouchi had yelled into the air; maybe it was the entire pickle they were in.

The strange thing was, they'd only been there for about an hour.

Maybe they're old feelings of friendship, trust and companionship was slowly starting to build once more.

Malik's life ticked as the seconds went by.

_Tick. Tock. Tick._

**~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~**

However, even though the tension ceased, the silence continued for another good half hour. Until...

"Jonouchi," Yugi said softly, "What do you mean, lose more people?" Jonouchi didn't answer. At least, not right away. His eyes stayed on the floor. "If you don't want to tell us--"

"No -- that's not it..." he muttered. Isis looked up momentarily. "That's not it...."

Silence.

It was cutting through Anzu like a knife through butter. She shook her head.

_This is so dumb,_ she thought. _Here we are, together for the first time in what -- three years? Malik could be dying and we sit here, saying nothing. Oh, for God's sakes--_

"Get it out in the open!" Anzu said, leaning forward. They all turned to her. She frowned. She was fed up. She'd only been sitting there for about forty-five minutes, and already she was fed up. She looked around at them all.

"What?" Otogi asked. "Get what?"

"Oh -- never mind," Anzu muttered, looking away. Isis smiled.

_I know what you're trying to do, Anzu,_ she thought. _I'm glad you are trying your hardest, my friend. I knew you'd be concerned for Malik..._

Jonouchi was shaking his head.

"Bastard," he murmured, making a grunting sound. "If he wasn't so stupid... Damn it, Malik, why are you doing this?!" he said, louder. Isis sighed inwardly. Something about Jonouchi had changed greatly... He seemed more depressed, more outward, more... she couldn't place it.

_Scared,_ she finally decided.

Yugi was thinking along the same lines.

"Jonouchi... You sound so scared," he commented quietly. Jonouchi looked up momentarily, shrugging.

"Yeah, Jonouchi, what is it?" Otogi said.

"We want to know," Ryou chimed in. Anzu stayed silent.

"It... doesn't matter to you," Jonouchi said. Yugi shook his head.

"That's not true, Jonouchi... Everyday I worry about you." 

Everyone turned to Yugi.

"It's true," Yugi continued. "Jonouchi, ever since you left... I... I don't know. I've wondered about you, wondering if you were still alive." Jonouchi grunted again.

"Why do you care?" he snapped. Anzu gasped. 

Jonouchi seemed to have turned back into the bully he once was. Yugi, hurt reflecting in his eyes, sniffed and said, "Jou...?"

"Jonouchi Katsuya, that was fuckin' bitchy!" Otogi said. "He was concerned, which is way more then you deserve at this point. What the fuck is your problem?"

"_My_ problem? It was _you_ who stopped talking to me!!" Jonouchi said back, leaning forwards. "All of you! You were all I had left, and then you just stopped -- what was I supposed to do, sit back and let them _kill_ me?!"

_What? _Isis thought. She knew where most of them were because of their auras, the glow that no one except she could see surrounding each of them. Once the aura goes out, the person has lost their soul to darkness and despair.

Jonouchi's was but a thin, white line around his body.

"Who, the gang? Jonouchi," Otogi said, standing, "We didn't know where you were!! You were so _mad_ at us when you left --"

"I was _scared!!_" Jonouchi cried, standing up. Otogi reeled back as if struck. Anzu covered her mouth, Yugi gasped, and Ryou shook his head. "I was damn terrified, okay? Are you happy now? I was in the _worst_ situation possible -- I was frickin' scared!!"

Isis remained silent during this hard time of emotion. She recognized the strong bond between them all; the one that, even after all this time, allowed them to share openly with each other... At first it was rough, but that common bond was still there...

Ryou cleared his throat.

"You could have told us," he said quietly. "We're supposed to be your friends." Jonouchi stared at him, dumbstruck, as if he had slapped him in the face. Yugi stood beside him.

"Jonouchi-kun," he whispered. "What happened?" All that could be heard was the soft breaths they all took, staring at Jonouchi's face. He lowered his eyes and sat down, burying his face in his hands.

"Everything happened, Yugi," he said softly. "Everything. My entire life just went down the drain. And there was no way for me to turn that around." Yugi shook his head. "And now... Knowing my great luck, Malik is probably on his death bed and I'm sitting here, wondering if I get to see him again..."

"Jonouchi, you should have come to us," Otogi said slowly. "Why didn't you?"

"Because!! Because I was trying to protect myself and my family! I was probably the only sane person in my entire family!" he cried, getting roused again. "You have no idea what happened to them! All of them! Even... Even Shizuka!" 

Isis closed her eyes and bowed her head. She hadn't spoken since the doctor gave the report.

_Obviously_, she thought to herself, _Jonouchi is a much deeper person then first perceived. _

"Jonouchi," she said in a soft voice. "You can trust them."

It was almost as if Isis's word was God's word. They had all been waiting for something to happen, some clarification that it was alright for them to tell each other everything, show their wounds hidden from the world. Isis somehow let them see the error of their ways.

"Now, all of you," she said, a bit louder. "Calm down. Jonouchi... What truly happened to you?"

Jonouchi gulped, sat down, buried his head in his hands, and said nothing.

"I'm sure it can't be worse then anything we can tell you," Ryou assured, sitting back. "And I know that Malik has some things he's been hiding from me..."

"Please, Jonouchi," Anzu begged. "Get it off your chest."

"We won't tell anyone, promise," Otogi said, smiling. Jonouchi looked up and nodded.

"Alright. I will."He was about to say something, when his eyes fell on the clock.

"How long have we been here?" The others looked around, suddenly remembering _Oh, yeah, we're ina  hospital... Waiting for Malik..._

Isis was silent.

Life ticked with every moment.

_Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick._

**~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~**

Jonouchi, in a hushed voice, told his horrible, terrifying tale. How his father lost their apartment; how they had to move into a 'slum' neighborhood in downtown Domino; how his sister's premature pregnancy made everything harder... Jonouchi explained how hard it was for him to survive down there. He turned away from his friends so they wouldn't get hurt. He wanted to help Shizuka, but his father kicked her out after she got pregnant at fifteen. Honda swept her away and neither of them were heard from since.

He told of the endless hours he was pushed around and beat up, the endless days were filled with thieving and bullying with gangs. A life once lived, re-lived.

He was afraid for their safety. He had said he didn't know who they were. He had claimed he had never gone to Domino High. Just to protect them.

He was in tears at the end.

Anzu explained how her step father continued to get transferred; last year she lived in England for six months, then back in Japan. She explained the hard times she got from people in her new town for being new in senior year; how she was lonely almost all the time. Her sisters made friends easy, but she did not.

She told how she had found refuge at a dance studio, and made friends at a different school. How she was actually given the chance, over the summer, to travel to New York City to try out for the ABC and the LDR. How she had thought about them endlessly.

And so other tales were told, in the next hour, of how they had changed, how they had drifted, a rift forming between them. How they felt they needed one another but thought things were much too different to fix their lives. Their friendship.

Isis watched, smiling. Who knew that her brother's accident would bring his friends together again?

A doctor appeared through a set of double doors.

"Miss Ishtahl? Minna?" [2] he called, clipboard in his hands. Isis looked up, standing and running over to him.

"How is he? Is he..." Isis didn't finish her sentence. The doctor showed no signs of emotion on his face.

"Follow me," he said, a smile suddenly spreading on his face. Hopes restored, Isis followed, and behind her, Yugi, Ryou, Otogi, Anzu, and Jonouchi followed as well, smiling for the first time in ages.

**~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~**

**~~Footnotes:**

**Cross necklace [1]:** I have no idea if Anzu really is Christian, or even has a religion at all. Im just guessing now.

**Minna [2]:** means "everyone" in Japanese.

**~~~~~**

Yami: Interesting. A happy ending.

Shibby: I was in a bit of a better mood when I finished it.

Yami: Ah. I see.

Shibby: Praises, requests of change and fixing wanted! Please, tell me if it didn't make sense or flowed wrong or... Or something!!! *laughs*

Yami: MUCH better mood. BTW, this is one-shit. I mean – one shot. *laughs*

Shibby: Even though it IS one shit…. Well, anyway, review!

**Shibby-One**


End file.
